Motion to Kill

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

Riley Brooks was waiting for them in the computerized nerve center in the basement of the county courthouse. What was once a deteriorating, mildewed graveyard for closed files and ancient furniture was now a gleaming, climate-controlled tribute to high-tech government.

Riley stood in the center of it all, beaming at the gadgetry spread around him. Kelly introduced Sandra and Blues. Each of them was greeted with an enthusiastic handshake and clap on the shoulder.

“All right,” he said to Kelly. “What have you got that old Riley’s supposed to break into?”

He rubbed his palms together and his face shone with excitement as Kelly handed him the DVDs and the Johnny Mathis CD. Mason laid out the essential pieces of the puzzle. Riley listened thoughtfully, tugging occasionally at one of the gray wisps above his ears.

“What do you think, Riley?” Kelly asked when Mason finished.

“I like Johnny Mathis. Always made the missus melt. Mind if I keep it?”

“Be my guest. What about the movies?” Mason asked.

“It’s easy enough to hide data on a disk so that an amateur won’t find it,” he answered as he tapped one disk against the palm of his hand. “But I’m no amateur.”

“Diane Farrell told us she checked the list function and didn’t see anything else on them,” Mason added.

“May not have been on the same program as the video. I’ll check it out through the utilities program. That should identify everything on the disks. If someone was really clever, they could hide the data from that too. It may take time, but I’ll find it if it’s there.”

They left and Kelly took them to the shops ringing the courthouse square. An hour later, Blues, Sandra, and Mason had clean clothes. Their next stop was the showers in the county jail; Mason telling the others that it pays to have connections when traveling.

Clean and dressed, he found his way to Kelly’s office on the first floor of the courthouse. She sat in front of her desk digging through six inches of in-basket, shoving it aside when he pulled up a chair next to her. A faint breeze wandered in the open windows, adding the smell of freshly cut grass.

“Blues and Sandra are checking in with Riley. Where do we go from here?” he asked.

“You don’t go anywhere. Stay out of it. You don’t know what you’re doing, and I don’t need any more bodies showing up on my doorstep.”

She answered without looking up from her papers. Her message was clear. Take off.

Mason wasn’t listening. “Why are you so angry with me?”

It wasn’t an innocent question. He knew part of the reason. She had made that plain. He hoped she would tell him that it was his body she didn’t want dumped somewhere. She sat back in her chair, arms folded across her chest, lips pressed flat. She knew what he was asking her, and the answer wasn’t easy. She gave it in a tight, controlled voice.

“Lou, this is a murder investigation, not The Dating Game. You are attractive and fun to be with-in spite of your one-liner approach to life. If we’d met another time, maybe something good could happen. But you’re screwing up this investigation.”

“Which means that you’re using your badge to keep me away. You’re protecting yourself, not me. I’m not your dead partner. I’m not a cop and I’m not dirty.”

She flinched, telling Mason that he had hit home. She had become the one bright light in his suddenly chaotic life. He knew he couldn’t hold her if she didn’t want him. But he wasn’t about to roll away into the darkness.

“You’re way out of line, Counselor!”

She bit off each word and spat them at him. They traded hard stares until hers began to redden and glisten. “Damn you!” she snapped and swiveled her chair around, leaving him to argue with her back.

Mason got up slowly. “Blues can find his way back to the cabin even if it’s supposed to be a secret. I’ll wait for you there. Sandra can stay and work with Riley.” No response. He walked to the door and turned, still talking to the back of her chair. “You might want to run Vic Jr. through one of your crime computers, Sheriff. He’s got to be the link to Chicago. Maybe you’ll find something interesting.”